Fool Me Once
by Sarela Jade
Summary: Done as a challenge for 1sentence community on livejournal.  A collection of 50 glances into the relationship of April and Donatello, each only one sentence long.


**Author's Note:** This is a random bunch of 50 sentences specifically for the pairing of April and Donatello, for a Livejournal community called "1 Sentence" in which you write one sentence on each 50 themes for any pairing you want. I chose these two, because, well... they're one of my top most favorite pairings, and I just simply couldn't resist! Also, I must warn you all in advance that although you could assume that these sentences take place in ANY of the various TMNT universes, I wrote ALL of these sentences with the intent of them ALL taking place in the TMNT Original Movies universe (The 1990s movie trilogy). I tried to leave them open for interpretation so that you could picture them in any universe you like best, but they were originally written as taking place in the TMNT live action films (mainly the 2nd and 3rd movies). As well, keep in mind that these sentences don't appear in any particular order. Thanks and happy reading!

* * *

Motion  
Back to back they fought, unmoving as they combated the furious soldiers that seemed to turn and twist in a haze of haphazard movements.

Cool  
"I never wanted this," Donatello said, his tone unusually uneven and cold as he watched April ball her fists and wordlessly storm away.

Young  
His intelligence outweighed his age, but it was a number that remained an enormous barrier between them.

Last  
Donatello observed the many gifts one by one, opened each of them promptly; and he was plagued by a trace of disappointment until he heard the sound of someone coming down the ladder into the lair, and turned to see April descending from it, smiling and dripping wet with sewer water, holding a package wrapped in red paper with "happy birthday, Donnie," inscribed on the tag.

Wrong  
"Uh-oh—um, uncool…"—he flashed April a worried grin and then turned and made a break for it as she stood seething and fuming; perhaps dumping half the bowl of unmixed cookie dough on her when she had turned to get the flour in the cupboard hadn't been the correct decision at all.

Gentle  
April had been lost in her current sketch of Donatello for the past hour or two—she loved to trace the contours of his collarbone, the spots along his skin, the delicate angle of his laugh lines.

One  
"Three," April counted, a devilish, slightly nervous grin etched onto her face, "two…" she glanced at Donatello as they both cried out, "ONE!" loudly and ran through the pouring rain to the nearest manhole which led down to the sewers below.

Thousand  
The entire stretch of the tunnel was covered with squeaking, teeming rats; she made a disgusted face and heard the turtles' laughter throughout the sewers, combined with Donatello's reassuring words of "Chill out, April, I'm right behind you."

King  
April smiled as she entered the turtles' lair and saw Donatello at his messy work desk, a throne of knowledge littered with multiple papers and books.

Learn  
"If you choose to continue with your training, Donatello," Splinter said, his eyes drifting to the wall of the main room of the turtles hide-out, coming to rest on a photographed picture of April making a funny face with the rest of the turtles—an unofficial 'family portrait'—"you must try to achieve a new level of concentration."

Blur  
April awoke to the sound of someone talking, and it wasn't until her eyes were fully adjusted to the changing light did she realize that Donatello was standing over her, his palm resting on her cheek, asking her what she remembered from the explosion—to which she didn't have a response.

Wait  
Someone with extremely familiar handwriting had left a little note—its top right hand corner secured underneath a box of chocolates—on her kitchen countertop that read, "Hey there my fave rockin' reporter, I'll be there around 7; thought you'd enjoy some of these while you waited—Don."

Change  
A constant sense of excitement flooded April's mind at the thought of Donatello returning home unharmed; it increased daily and thrived upon the knowledge that he was alive.

Command  
"Can you handle a 'stay put' for now? _Don't move_," Donatello said firmly, and instantly arose and left her hidden in the bushes of Central Park, rushing off to violently repay the group of Foot members who had rudely interrupted his and April's late night meeting by trying to steal her purse.

Hold  
"Y'know, we turtles are actually more comfortable than you think—not like those dingy, totally un-soft couches they sell at yard sales," Donatello said amusedly, to which she laughed and settled closer against him.

Need  
April peered over the cards she held in her hands; "you're going to have to have more than a two-pair to beat me this time, Donnie," she said with a wink.

Vision  
Donatello gently adjust the telescope, his hand resting on the small of April's back as she peered through the device and into the stars above, uttering a gasp of fascination.

Attention  
She chuckled in amusement as Donatello's head snapped up and his eyes went wide when she walked out of the bathroom wearing a dark purple dress.

Soul  
They were interwoven, a web of commonality that preceded beyond spirit and self.

Picture  
The photo of her and Donatello sharing a slice of pizza—with strands of cheese and pepperoni dangling from the corners of their mouths, sporting ridiculous, toothy grins—was arranged among a collage of other pictures on her dresser.

Fool  
She leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor, drawing her knees to her chest as she fingered the locket Donatello had given her last Christmas, asking herself, "why do you have to be such a _moron_?"

Mad  
"Let her go, oh mister look-at-me-I'm-concealed," Donatello said, murderous anger evident in his tone as he glared at the masked man who had broken into April's apartment and now held her, whimpering, in an iron grip; "you heard me," the turtle warned, "let—her—go."

Child  
Whenever Casey mentioned anything remotely close to the subject of Donatello, he noticed that April would somehow shrink, so small, an uncertain guilt awash across her features.

Now  
"I could be wrong, but there's something definitely up with my turtle instincts that shouts code red; this place gives me the creepy crawlys," Donatello said, and without a second thought urgently took April's hand, yanking her out of the suspicious crowd and away from whatever danger lay within it.

Shadow  
The love-hate relationship she and Casey had had for years drew a scrim of obscurity over the constant feeling of completeness she had felt when with Donatello.

Good-bye  
"This isn't _it_, right?" April whispered in a trembling voice, her eyes wide with horror as she reached for Donatello's hand across the branch of the tree she and the turtles were currently sitting in to escape from Walker's marauding soldiers below.

Hide  
Raphael gingerly tied the cloth around her head to cover her eyes, and she could hear the voices of the other turtles—Donatello's, in particular—resound throughout the apartment, until she stood up and shouted, "ready or not, here I come!"

Fortune  
"Money doesn't grow on trees, you know," April chided Donatello as she picked up the several receipts that he and the rest of the boys had gotten from buying groceries (mostly pizza) the day before.

Safe  
An inaudible sigh of relief escaped Donatello's lips as he gathered a badly wounded—but alive—April into his arms.

Ghost  
It didn't help that Donatello had pretty much ruined April's bed sheet by cutting out two holes for eyes in a pathetic attempt for a Halloween costume.

Book  
"Hey, Ape, you never know—one day, someone may branch off from writing about us in the paper to publishing a novel!"

Eye  
April tried to stifle her laughter as she watched Donatello do an exceedingly well-done impression of having a lazy eye during an outrageous game of charades.

Never  
She had begged him to not leave, ever, and he had briefly paused before answering hesitantly, almost nervously, "but… I'm not Casey."

Sing  
Donatello strained his voice trying to answer April's question about his latest training over the sound of Mikey carelessly—and quite _loudly_—singing, "baby, baby, ROCK ME GENTLY!"

Sudden  
"Hey, April, I… I don't really know how to say thi—" Donatello's words were cut short as her lips rushed to meet his—so much for a cheesy confession of a crush.

Stop  
April felt as though she was continuously falling into the trap of letting her feelings for Donatello consume her, and that the only way it would end was for her to practice the art of displacement.

Time  
The Sceptre had stopped time itself and still there seemed to be a nagging persistence that made him feel loosely connected to April.

Wash  
"I don't care what you say," April said with an insisting look on her face as she snatched Donatello's bandanna off his head in a swift, fluid movement, holding it in front of his eyes as she stated, "this is getting washed at least _once_ in this lifetime."

Torn  
"The one who slices the great bandanna is gonna so pay," he said with humorous vengeance as April observed the countless shreds of purple cloth in Donatello's hands.

History  
"You got all of these novels… from the garbage?" she asked Donatello, astonished that he could keep such a collection of various works, many simply science or history books that no one had bothered to buy.

Power  
His mannerisms and hilarity ways were just as strong, April thought, as his fighting skills and random disappearing acts, because both held the power to petrify.

Bother  
"Will you _stop_ that?" she asked irritably as Donatello persisted to tinker with the noisy inner parts of the broken mantle clock—to which he merely looked up at her and replied, "but I'm _bored_."

God  
He chose to mend her heart whilst wielding the authority to mangle it.

Wall  
She had given up on arguing with Donatello when it came to organizing his work table—it was like talking to a brick wall half the time.

Naked  
He was oblivious to the doubts and second thoughts she had, even when they lay bare and open before him, an uncovered afterthought aglow in her eyes.

Drive  
"Yo, doesn't this thing go any faster?" Donatello shouted their attackers sped up in hot pursuit behind them, and April could only look at him helplessly until he finally reached over and pushed her hands off the steering wheel with a yell as they began to swerve and swing along the road.

Harm  
"And here I thought love was supposed to bring people happiness," April said to herself as she sadly touched the spot on her cheek were Don had kissed her, "not to a stupid, unworkable end."

Precious  
He regarded the E=M C Squared notepad April had gotten him (for all of his random musing on technology and science, she had said) with an entertained expression, mingled with a tinge of thankfulness that shone dimly in his eyes.

Hunger  
After nearly weeks of not seeing her in a failed endeavour to keep her safe from the Foot, just a simple glance and an unsteady hello didn't seem to satisfy.

Believe  
"We could be like, totally rip-roaring fantastic together," Donatello said as he glanced down at his and April's hands, which were entwined gently in front of them, "don't you think so?"


End file.
